Allison's Recognition Is Deserved, Overdue

May 21, 1986|By Jerry Greene

Gather round, children, and let me tell you the story of me and Bobby. No, not ''Me and Bobby McGee,'' but me and Bobby Allison.

We have the same roots, Bobby and me.

Way back in the fabulous '50s, Bobby Allison spent every Saturday night as a teen-ager roaring around the dirt track at the Hialeah Speedway. Victory, the Big Score, was all that mattered to young Bobby Allison.

And on those same Saturday nights, yours truly was perched on the top row of the wooden grandstands at the Hialeah Speedway, my arm protectively encircling the companion of my choice. Victory, the Big Score, was all that mattered to me, too.

Allison won a lot more often than I in those days. Some of you may remember that romance didn't happen easily in the '50s. Romance was a form of war. It required predate strategy and constant on-date tactics. Romance called for cunning and courage, just like dirt-track racing.

The strategy behind taking a date to the Hialeah Speedway was obvious. The tension, the excitement, the urge to be daring. Heh-heh-heh. And after the races, we could be found parked behind the Miami airport. So what if my date had her eyes closed and was thinking of Bobby Allison. I was thinking of Sophia Loren.

Marriage and the passage of time have taken their toll, however. Now I'm left with memories, old records, one understanding woman and a cup of hot chocolate to warm me on Saturday nights. Those were the days, my friends, I thought they'd never end.

But a funny thing happened to Bobby Allison on the way to the old folks home. Bobby didn't age. For him, those days haven't ended. He's still winning and the only difference is the size of the tracks and the speed of the cars.

I hate you, Bobby Allison.

But I still admire you, too. Even as a teen-ager I admired and envied the courage and concentration needed to simply survive on a race track, much less win.

Allison hasn't gotten older at age 48, only better. His last two super- speedway races have been a first (the Winston 500 at Talladega) and a second (the Dover 400 in Delaware).

Sunday he goes after the World 600 in Charlotte, N.C. Let him win that race and the Southern 500 at Darlington -- and he earns a nifty $1 million bonus. Allison isn't sure what he would do with $1 million, but he's willing to find out.

Allison doesn't need $1 million, of course. He doesn't even need public recognition -- but he certainly deserves it.

Despite being voted Most Popular Driver six times by NASCAR fans, Allison never has convinced the media or even most of his fellow drivers of his lasting worth. Despite having more stock car victories than everyone except Richard Petty and David Pearson, Allison always has been treated as part of the supporting cast.

Allison has been miscast terribly. With 82 victories on major speedways and uncountable hundreds of small-track triumphs, Allison is a star of magnitude. Thank goodness that we, the sports writers of Florida, had the good sense to vote him into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame before the Talladega victory. Even then we probably were late, considering that he won his first race at Hialeah in 1955 and had won more than 200 races by the time he was 24.

He already is in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and is Hueytown's most famous resident. But he grew up in Miami, and it started for Allison at good old Hialeah Speedway.

Incidentally, Allison relied on cunning, too, in those days. His parents forbid him to race, and for a short time, he became Bobby Sunderman so that his real name wouldn't appear in the newspaper.

''They didn't realize I would take racing so seriously,'' Allison said before Monday's induction ceremonies into the Hall of Fame. And his beaming parents were here to share their son's recognition.

All of us who grew up in the '50s can share Allison's pride. The victory at Talladega was yet another chapter in this year's parade of triumphant Grey Panthers. Jack Nicklaus at the Masters. Jockey Bill Shoemaker and elderly trainer Charlie Whittingham at the Kentucky Derby. And Bobby Allison.